| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | 1889-1913: PS Cheshire |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |  |
| Builder | Canada Works Engineering and Shipbuilding Company, Birkenhead |
| Launched | 1889 |
| Out of service | 1913 |
| Fate | Broken up 1911 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 142 feet (43 m) |
| Beam | 48 feet (15 m) |
| Draught | 10 feet (3.0 m) |
| Installed power | 510 hp |
| Propulsion | Two diagonal compound S.C. engines |
PS Cheshire was a passenger vessel built for the Town Council of Birkenhead in 1889 for use as a Mersey ferry. [1]
She was built in Canada Works, Birkenhead in 1889 for the Town Council of Birkenhead for use as a Mersey Ferry. There was some dispute with the builder as she was refused by the commissioners, and was put up for sale, but the highest bid of £4,500 (equivalent to £529,153 in 2021) [2] did not meet the reserve price, so she was withdrawn. [3]
In 1903 she was put up for sale by the Birkenhead Corporation [4] and eventually she was sold to the Great Western Railway who deployed her as a tender in Plymouth.
On 9 December 1905 she was in collision with the Maggie Hough of Liverpool in dense fog in Plymouth sound. The Cheshire had just taken on board from the American liner SS City of New York 47 passengers and mail bags, and did not see the Maggie Hough which was anchoring in the channel for the fog to lift. [5]
She was broken up in Germany in October 1911. [6]
Merseyside is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Liverpool.
The River Mersey is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
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